Friday, April 8, 2011

Reptiles and Amphibians of Costa Rica

My group and I spent an entire afternoon at the Arenal Ecozoo, where the owner Victor Quesarda set up natural panoramas so we could photograph various amphibians and reptiles of Costa Rica. We photographed everything from the non--venomous to the venomous variety. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

Victor and his assistants handled all the animals with care and also make sure we were not in any danger from the highly venomous reptiles that we photographed.

The Red-eye Tree Frog provided most of the entertainment for the afternoon as we photographed it on various perches and walking along a branch.

Surprisingly the most aggressive creature was the Green Parrot Snake, which hissed and tried to strike at people.It is venomous but has rear facing fangs and must chew on its victim to inject the venom.

The Bushmaster is the largest pit viper in the world. Bushmaster's live in remote , heavily forested tropical jungle terrain and has earned a fierce reputation, it is been known to aggressively attack man. However, very few attacks are known to occur due to its habitat and nocturnal habits.

And another pit viper, the Fer de Lance, is another relative of the Bushmaster, is Costa Rica's most feared snake because it occurs around human habitat. It causes more human deaths than any other American reptiles.

Here are pictures of other Amphibians and Reptiles that we photographed.

Neotropical Bird Snake

Cloudy Snail-eater Snake

Strawberry Poison-dart Frog which is also known as the Blue Jean Frog because of its blue legs